LG Nexus 4

Good times are happening over at Google where they've not only gotten Android 5.0 Lollipop working for the LG-made Nexus 4, they've released it to the public. Just as the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 were given Lollipop this week, so too will Nexus 4 users be able to load it with ease. And if you're familiar with the Android SDK, you can load it right this minute. All it takes is a USB cord and a couple of quick code entries. If you know what that's all about, of course.

This week the folks at Google responsible for sending binaries for Android to Nexus devices have done so for five devices, showing the Android L spread for the near future. When a binary is sent out across a range of devices like is has been today, it means that the same - or a very similar - build will be send to the collection. Android L is out as a Developer Preview for the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 (2013), and this week it’s been confirmed (not released, just confirmed) for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (2012), and Nexus 10.

There’s nothing like a good April Fool’s joke to make you lose hope that something impossible could be possible. Today it’s inside Google’s new Maps Pokemon video, showing here a dual-screen Nexus device - or at least two Nexus 5 smartphones being held up one next to the other for some dual-screen Pokemon action.

Today the CyanogenMod software universe expands with the app ecosystem called CyanogenMod Installer. What the team at the alternate-Android software team's intent is with this software is to take the otherwise convoluted process in loading the CyanogenMod software to a smartphone and turn it into an "anyone can do it" experience. In other words - if we have to make a real "how-to" guide, the team at CyanogenMod haven't done their job properly.

In a month from the time of the release of this article - that's October 17th - the folks at Ubuntu will be releasing the newest desktop OS version 13.10, and along with it an image of Ubuntu Touch. This mobile software will be available "ready to install" on devices we've seen running early versions since January of 2013. This means the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets (2012 editions, at least), and the LG Nexus 4 will be ready to roll by Halloween with full smartphone-optimized Ubuntu.

There should be little doubt that Google is planning on continuing their Nexus smartphone program well into the future - that much is clear. What's not as clear is their release schedule and manufacturer choices - the pattern we've expected to find appearing several years ago with a new OEM for each device being doused again and again. This week we're seeing further confirmation - thanks to the FCC - that Google may be working with LG once again for their Nexus smartphone line in the Nexus 5 rather than switching over after the Nexus 4 (also made by LG).

As the dust of IFA slowly settles down, we turn our attention to something that passed us by rather quickly: the appearance of what is allegedly the Nexus 5. Keen observers noted in Google's Android 4.4 KitKat video what seems to be a Nexus smartphone featuring a rear design that has not yet been seen. It seems that that cover has made its way into the FCC as the LG D820.

In today's obligatory unveiling video of the new Android statue for Google's lawn full of statues of desserts, a new Google smartphone has appeared. This may very well be the next-generation Nexus device as it does indeed have the word Nexus written on it - though in a bit of a cut with what may be some black tape over the logo for secrecy. This device looks to be replicating the look (and perhaps the feel) of the 2013 edition of the Nexus 7, what with its massive back-facing camera land and horizontal logo (which is also massive).

It was inevitable and should come as a shock to no one that Google Play Store has run out of inventory of the Nexus 4 smartphone. This is no doubt the effect of the $100 price cut on both 8 GB and 16 GB models of the device last week, which some have taken to be the writing on the wall that will eventually bring about a new Google Nexus smartphone.

Google has just slashed the rate of its 8GB and 16GB Nexus 4 models in the Play Store by $100, bringing the price down to $199. Such follows closely on the heels of Nexus 5 speculation, not the least of which was a rumor earlier this month that Google would be keeping the same pricing structure for the next-generation Nexus, placing it at $299.